Laura Pennington  |  July 19, 2018

Category: Legal News

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scientists study long term use of PPI drugsPatients might not realize that the long term use of a PPI or proton pump inhibitor medication, such as Nexium, could lead to significant consequences. Unfortunately, recent research has indicated that long term use of PPI drugs may be connected to a heightened risk of stomach cancer.

The class of medications known as PPIs are often used by patients to treat heartburn and acid reflux. PPIs work by suppressing the production of acid in the user’s stomach and are some of the most popular drugs sold around the world.

However, a recent study indicates that long term use of PPI drugs may more than double a person’s risk of developing stomach cancer. Researchers report that long term use of PPI drugs can increase a person’s stomach cancer risks by as much as 250 percent. The risks are connected with a bacterium known as Helicobacter pylori, or H. pylori.

H. Pylori and PPIs

The bacterium H. pylori is carried by more than half of the population around the world and does not usually cause issues. The recent research indicates that this bacterium could cause problems for people who have it and are also using PPI drugs long term.  While many people have this bacterium harmlessly inside their body, a small percentage of people have a form of this bacterium that leads to development of stomach cancer.

Previous research identified that those people who had an ongoing H. pylori infection while also taking a proton pump inhibitor stood a higher chance of developing a precursor to stomach cancer, referred to as atrophic gastritis. The connection has been known for some time but was relatively unclear.

The latest research shows that despite the fact that some people alleged that eliminating the infection before taking a PPI could reduce the prospects of getting cancer, that this might not actually be the case.

Study Findings

Researchers looked at Hong Kong residents and explored the cases of more than 63,000 people who were treated with three therapies at once to kill an H. pylori infection. Those three treatments included two antibiotics and a PPI.

The study identified that long term use of PPI could be especially problematic for those patients at risk of developing stomach cancer.

After the initial infection was eliminated, the subjects were monitored for approximately seven years on average. Patients who took PPIs were 2.44 times more likely to develop stomach cancer, while those who also used an alternative drug known as H2 blockers did not show any increased risk.

Daily PPI users had a 4.55 times higher risk for developing stomach cancer than the baseline, and that risk became eight-fold if the drugs were taken for longer than three years.

Those patients who have already used Nexium and other PPI medications for a long period of time should be evaluated carefully by their physicians to figure out whether or not this drug is truly in their best interest. A class action investigation has been launched for those patients who have developed stomach cancer after using PPIs for a long period of time.

In general, acid reflux medication lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.

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